Billet repair price?

[Sparrowette]

I have been procrastinating on getting the billets repaired on that old Stubben I got on Ebay for what I thought was a song.

Just called a local saddlery, and was told he charged $40 each. This saddle has 6 total ($240), and not all of them are bad.

Do all of them have to be done at once or can it be repaired on an “as needed” basis?

Is $40 per each a normal price? He said it was because they were a PITA to do.

Thanks…

[Highflyer]

I usually do the 1st and 3rd only unless the middle one is in bad shape (but I also only use the 1st and 3rd). At minimum I would do whatever two you use so that they match. I had mine done at the Amish repair shop locally and I think they were $10 each.

[betsyk]

I asked the saddle fitter last week what it would cost to do the billets on a saddle she’ll be reflocking, and I thought she said $50 each (dressage saddle = 4 of them). Now I’m thinking that’s too high and I’m not remembering correctly. She said she needed to order them from County because she didn’t have the right length on hand, so maybe that’s why the higher price.

The last time I had billets replaced on a jumping saddle, it was $160, maybe 5 years ago.

[Squirt]

I used to charge $25 each.

[Mango20]

I paid $25 each no more than 5 years ago.

[Classicgal]

I paid $50 a couple of years ago for 4 (2 each side). And the person had to do a lot of work to get at them. She did an excellent job, I thought I got a great deal.

[INoMrEd]

I paid $160.00 for all four billets on my dressage saddle.

[Danier]

I paid no more than $100 (for four) just last year, had them done at the same time as reflocking

[TC3200]

[QUOTE=Sparrowette;8915942]
I have been procrastinating on getting the billets repaired on that old Stubben I got on Ebay for what I thought was a song.

Just called a local saddlery, and was told he charged $40 each. This saddle has 6 total ($240), and not all of them are bad.

Do all of them have to be done at once or can it be repaired on an “as needed” basis?

Is $40 per each a normal price? He said it was because they were a PITA to do.

Thanks…[/QUOTE]

If you can sew, you could buy prepunched billets and stitch them on yourself. I’ve done it. You’d probably have to let down the panel at the front by cutting the stitches around the gullet. But maybe not. Some saddles have the billets hung kind of low on the webs and you can stitch new ones on without messing with the panel.

Back when I sent saddles out for 6 billets including 2 point billets, I think it averaged $150 to $175 with the return shipping included. But that was almost 10 years ago and shipping and repair work have both increased in price. I have local Amish who charge $10/billet, so that’s where even my very expensive saddles go now, if I’m not doing the work myself.

Some repair people will just selectively replace a few billets. Others, citing liability reasons, will only replace the entire set.

[FLeventer]

I paid the local guy $100 to do my dressage saddles billets. All four replaced, so $25 each.

[BigMama1]

My coach just took in a saddle to our local tack shop to have one replaced. They charged $200, replaced them all and the holes on the new ones didn’t even line up.

To fix the alignment issue she took the saddle up to a harness shop in Mennonite country. The guy there replaced all four (properly this time) and charged her $80 - did the work while she waited.